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1.Title:  Francis Hopkinson Notebook (1784-1791)
 Dates:  1784 - 1791 
 Extent:  1 volume  
 Locations:  Philadelphia 
 Abstract:  The Francis Hopkinson notebook provides insights into the finances, and, to a lesser degree, the personal affairs of an American statesman. Entries span 11/21/1785-9/3/1790, with one or two outlying entries, one dated 2/20/1784, and another, which records the death of a "Mr. Bordeu," from 4/8/1791. Given that Hopkinson himself died in November 1791, this volume provides a window into his final years. Most entries are devoted to accounts. For example, Hopkinson notes the purchase of a ten-volume encyclopedia (2/15/1790). However, he occasional references personal affairs, as he does on 10/15/1790, when he writes, "Nancy went to school again." This notebook may interest researchers exploring Hopkinson's biography or Philadelphia during the early national period. 
    
 
    
The Francis Hopkinson notebook provides insights into the finances, and, to a lesser degree, the personal affairs of an American statesman. Entries span 11/21/1785-9/3/1790, with one or two outlying entries, one dated 2/20/1784, and another, which records the death of a "Mr. Bordeu," from 4/8/1791. Given that Hopkinson himself died in November 1791, this volume provides a window into his final years. Most entries are devoted to accounts. For example, Hopkinson notes the purchase of a ten-volume encyclopedia (2/15/1790). However, he occasional references personal affairs, as he does on 10/15/1790, when he writes, "Nancy went to school again." This notebook may interest researchers exploring Hopkinson's biography or Philadelphia during the early national period.
 
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 Subjects:  Accounts. | Diaries. | United States--Politics and government--1783-1865. 
 Collection:  Francis Hopkinson notebook, 1784-1791  (Mss.B.H768.1)  
  Go to the collection
 
2.Title:  Thomas Coates Journal (1683-1699)
 Dates:  1683 - 1699 
 Extent:  1 volume  
 Locations:  Leicestershire | London | Philadelphia 
 Abstract:  The Thomas Coates Collection contains one small, pocket-size journal with entries spanning the final two decades the seventeenth century (1682-1699). Coates, an early Quaker settler in Philadelphia, arrived in 1683 and established himself as a tailor and merchant by the 1690s. His journal, maintained in the margins of a British Merlin almanac dated 1683, mostly contains personal accounts and transactions, beginning as early as 1/22/1682. Most of his accounts date from the 1690s—curiously, many of his entries from 1695 are crossed out—and they include purchases of household items such as fabric, flax, butter, and nails (spelled "nayls"). Coates names many contemporaneous Philadelphians in the accounts. His journal also recounts a return to England in late-1683, and subsequent voyage back to America, via an unspecified location in Virginia. Notably, there are several memoranda scattered throughout the entries, including one memorializing the death of his mother (1678) and another commemorating his birthday (1659). Coates furnishes one of the oldest Philadelphia diaries in the collections at the American Philosophical Society, and, as such, this volume provides rare glimpses into the city's early social, economic, and material life. 
    
 
    
The Thomas Coates Collection contains one small, pocket-size journal with entries spanning the final two decades the seventeenth century (1682-1699). Coates, an early Quaker settler in Philadelphia, arrived in 1683 and established himself as a tailor and merchant by the 1690s. His journal, maintained in the margins of a British Merlin almanac dated 1683, mostly contains personal accounts and transactions, beginning as early as 1/22/1682. Most of his accounts date from the 1690s—curiously, many of his entries from 1695 are crossed out—and they include purchases of household items such as fabric, flax, butter, and nails (spelled "nayls"). Coates names many contemporaneous Philadelphians in the accounts. His journal also recounts a return to England in late-1683, and subsequent voyage back to America, via an unspecified location in Virginia. Notably, there are several memoranda scattered throughout the entries, including one memorializing the death of his mother (1678) and another commemorating his birthday (1659). Coates furnishes one of the oldest Philadelphia diaries in the collections at the American Philosophical Society, and, as such, this volume provides rare glimpses into the city's early social, economic, and material life.
 
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  Selected Quotations
  • "Tho Coates was borne the 26 of this in 1659"
 
 Subjects:  Accounts. | Colonial America | Diaries. | Philadelphia history | Travel. 
 Collection:  Coates family. Account books, etc., 1678-1817  (Mss.B.C632.1)  
  Go to the collection
 
3.Title:  James Wilson Diary (1773-1786)
 Dates:  1773 - 1786 
 Extent:  1 volume  
 Locations:  Bethlehem | Carlisle | Easton | Newton | Philadelphia | Princeton | Trenton 
 Abstract:  A prominent lawyer and signer of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, James Wilson also kept a brief journal that records his work, travels, and some other surprising data. Recorded in a "Aitken's General American Register" dated 1773, this journal includes entries dated 1774, and 1782-1786. Entries appear in two different hands, and record receipts, expenses, and activities, the last probably not Wilson's. The second hand of the almanac has been dated to a later period, believed to be from 1782-1786, and it records in graphic detail the sexual exploits of its author. 
    
 
    
A prominent lawyer and signer of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, James Wilson also kept a brief journal that records his work, travels, and some other surprising data. Recorded in a "Aitken's General American Register" dated 1773, this journal includes entries dated 1774, and 1782-1786. Entries appear in two different hands, and record receipts, expenses, and activities, the last probably not Wilson's. The second hand of the almanac has been dated to a later period, believed to be from 1782-1786, and it records in graphic detail the sexual exploits of its author.
 
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 Subjects:  Accounts. | Diaries. | Philadelphia history | Social life and customs. | Women--History. 
 Collection:  James Wilson account book and diary, 1773-1786  (Mss.B.W6915)  
  Go to the collection
 
4.Title:  Rufus Ivory Cole Diaries (1910-1927)
 Dates:  1861 - 1927 
 Extent:  10 volumes  
 Locations:  Ashland | Londonville | Philadelphia | Pleasantville 
 Abstract:  The Rufus Ivory Cole Papers include at least 10 volumes of journals spanning 1861-1927. The bulk of those volumes were maintained by John B. Smith and Ivory S. Cole in the second-half of the nineteenth century. Those include a school notebook (10/3/1861-7/15/1865), a daybook with some accounts (11/20/1868-9/25/1871), four diaries with brief entries focused on household chores (1874, 1875, 1877, 1886), and a pair of daybooks from the early-twentieth century (1910 and 1913-14). There is also at least one appointment book belonging to Rufus Ivory Cole, a pioneer in clinical research. That volume records various notes pertaining to travels and meetings between 1910-1927. Finally, there is a memorandum book that includes sporadic notes from June and July of an unspecified year. 
    
 
    
The Rufus Ivory Cole Papers include at least 10 volumes of journals spanning 1861-1927. The bulk of those volumes were maintained by John B. Smith and Ivory S. Cole in the second-half of the nineteenth century. Those include a school notebook (10/3/1861-7/15/1865), a daybook with some accounts (11/20/1868-9/25/1871), four diaries with brief entries focused on household chores (1874, 1875, 1877, 1886), and a pair of daybooks from the early-twentieth century (1910 and 1913-14). There is also at least one appointment book belonging to Rufus Ivory Cole, a pioneer in clinical research. That volume records various notes pertaining to travels and meetings between 1910-1927. Finally, there is a memorandum book that includes sporadic notes from June and July of an unspecified year.
 
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 Subjects:  Accounts. | Diaries. | Medicine. | Religion. | United States--Civilization--1865-1918. 
 Collection:  Rufus Ivory Cole Papers  (Mss.B.C671)  
  Go to the collection
 
5.Title:  William West Long Diaries (1891-1917)
 Dates:  1891 - 1917 
 Extent:  7 volumes  
 Locations:  Needham 
 Abstract:  This collection contains at least seven diaries maintained in both English and Cherokee by William West Long between 1891-1917. Long, a member of the Cherokee Tribe, served as ethnographer Frank Gouldsmith Speck's primary consultant and collaborator. Long's journals include entries, accounts, notes, and curing formulas, with multiple notebooks related to the years 1911, 1913, 1916-17. Given that these volumes are culturally sensitive and have been maintained primarily in Cherokee (with no English translations), scholars might consider consulting with the Center for Native American and Indigenous Research (https://www.amphilsoc.org/library/CNAIR) as they examine these volumes. 
    
 
    
This collection contains at least seven diaries maintained in both English and Cherokee by William West Long between 1891-1917. Long, a member of the Cherokee Tribe, served as ethnographer Frank Gouldsmith Speck's primary consultant and collaborator. Long's journals include entries, accounts, notes, and curing formulas, with multiple notebooks related to the years 1911, 1913, 1916-17. Given that these volumes are culturally sensitive and have been maintained primarily in Cherokee (with no English translations), scholars might consider consulting with the Center for Native American and Indigenous Research (https://www.amphilsoc.org/library/CNAIR) as they examine these volumes.
 
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 Subjects:  Accounts. | Cherokee Indians. | Cherokee language. | Diaries. | Indians of North America--Languages. | Medicine. | United States--Civilization--1865-1918. 
 Collection:  Collection of notes and diaries in the Cherokee syllabary, 1840-1932  (Mss.572.97.SpL)  
  Go to the collection
 
6.Title:  Charles Thomas Jackson Notebooks (1833-1857)
 Dates:  1833 - 1857 
 Extent:  5 volumes  
 Locations:  Boston | Concord | Portsmouth | Quebec City 
 Abstract:  Charles Thomas Jackson maintained at least five notebooks that could be classified as diaries, which detail geological expeditions undertaken between 1833-1849. These diaries may interest researchers considering Jackson's geological surveys, New England farming, husbandry, and geology, and the Lower Canada Rebellion. 
    
The first journal, entitled, "Exchange Book A 1833," includes notes on minerals, individuals, and destinations spanning 6/15/1833-4/7/1843.
 
Jackson maintained two sequential volumes between 1840 and 1841. The 1840 notebook contains entries written between 9/21-10/6, and devotes significant attention to non-geological affairs, such as towns and people, husbandry, farming methods, and yields for oats, potatoes, wheat, and various dairy products. The 1841 volume is considerably more focused on geology, with detailed accounts of granite, smoky quartz, limestone, iron, marble, and lead mines and quarries across New England. While these entries are almost single-mindedly focused on geology, there are instances when Jackson considers other affairs. For example, between 7/4-7/9, he briefly acknowledges the illness, death, and funeral of his daughter, Susan
 
on 7/20, he notes a "late speculation mania
 
" and shortly after an 8/17 entry, he describes a visit to Quebec with some commentary on the Lower Canada Rebellion. This journal features numerous hand-drawn diagrams, many of which are noteworthy for their excellent draftsmanship (8/15 and 9/15).
 
An 1849 journal continues in much the same vein, detailing geological discoveries, carefully rendered diagrams (e.g. 8/4), and barometric readings.
 
Jackson also maintained an account book that spans January 1855-October 1857. That volume features a letter to a "Humphrey Esq.," dated 1/6/186[sic] and a signed entry concerning a dispute regarding certified copies of a document, dated 8/21 (presumably 1857). Interested researchers may choose to review other notebooks in the Geology Journals box, such as a catalog of rocks and minerals from Lake Superior and a scrapbook maintained by Mrs. C.J. Jackson, dated 1881.
 
    
Charles Thomas Jackson maintained at least five notebooks that could be classified as diaries, which detail geological expeditions undertaken between 1833-1849. These diaries may interest researchers considering Jackson's geological surveys, New England farming, husbandry, and geology, and the Lower Canada Rebellion.
 
The first journal, entitled, "Exchange Book A 1833," includes notes on minerals, individuals, and destinations spanning 6/15/1833-4/7/1843.
 
Jackson maintained two sequential volumes between 1840 and 1841. The 1840 notebook contains entries written between 9/21-10/6, and devotes significant attention to non-geological affairs, such as towns and people, husbandry, farming methods, and yields for oats, potatoes, wheat, and various dairy products. The 1841 volume is considerably more focused on geology, with detailed accounts of granite, smoky quartz, limestone, iron, marble, and lead mines and quarries across New England. While these entries are almost single-mindedly focused on geology, there are instances when Jackson considers other affairs. For example, between 7/4-7/9, he briefly acknowledges the illness, death, and funeral of his daughter, Susan
 
on 7/20, he notes a "late speculation mania
 
" and shortly after an 8/17 entry, he describes a visit to Quebec with some commentary on the Lower Canada Rebellion. This journal features numerous hand-drawn diagrams, many of which are noteworthy for their excellent draftsmanship (8/15 and 9/15).
 
An 1849 journal continues in much the same vein, detailing geological discoveries, carefully rendered diagrams (e.g. 8/4), and barometric readings.
 
Jackson also maintained an account book that spans January 1855-October 1857. That volume features a letter to a "Humphrey Esq.," dated 1/6/186[sic] and a signed entry concerning a dispute regarding certified copies of a document, dated 8/21 (presumably 1857). Interested researchers may choose to review other notebooks in the Geology Journals box, such as a catalog of rocks and minerals from Lake Superior and a scrapbook maintained by Mrs. C.J. Jackson, dated 1881.
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  Selected Quotations
  • Death of Daughter: "This morning she is evidently sinking. 5 PM she died—We returned to Boston & the corpse of the child was brought down in the night by the [nurse]" (7/7/1841)

  • Quebec and Lower Canadian Rebellion: "We have now no hairbreadth escapes to relate and all goes glibly as the railroad car on the present route. We held long talks with the Canadian Caliche drivers who showed us all the scenes of the Insurrection of Montreal & Vicinity. The Canadians have been sadly abused by the English & abominably neglected by the Americans. Had they revolted they would have been styled Heroes & would have been crowded with laurels but because they failed ignominy & the scaffolds are regarded as their just dues!!! This is human justice and human glory! It was so in Paris in June 1832. That was an infamous rebellion because it failed although it had a better cause than the Revolution of the 3 days of July 1830" (8/17/1841)

  • Speculation mania: "another pyrite mine was discovered & the dreams of gold silver & copper were dissipated in a sulfurous smoke at once by my verdict on the nature of the minerals obtained by villains at the mine" (9/13/1841)
 
 Subjects:  Accounts. | Agriculture. | Canada--History--1763-1867. | Diaries. | Expedition | Geology. | New England. | Rebellions, revolts, and uprisings | Science. | Travel. 
 Collection:  Papers of Charles Thomas Jackson  (Mss.Ms.Coll.190)  
  
7.Title:  David Rittenhouse Diaries (1784-1805)
 Dates:  1784 - 1805 
 Extent:  2 volumes  
 Locations:  Bethlehem | Easton | Lancaster | Northampton | Philadelphia | York 
 Abstract:  Meteorological observations, 1784-1805 
    
David Rittenhouse maintained meteorological observations in two volumes that span the first twenty years of the early national period (5/6/1784-9/30/1805). Alongside weather conditions, Rittenhouse regularly documents temperatures, the conditions of roads, expenses, and accounts. These volumes may interest researchers studying meteorological conditions as well as other regional phenomena such as eclipses and the Yellow Fever epidemic.
 
    
Meteorological observations, 1784-1805
 
David Rittenhouse maintained meteorological observations in two volumes that span the first twenty years of the early national period (5/6/1784-9/30/1805). Alongside weather conditions, Rittenhouse regularly documents temperatures, the conditions of roads, expenses, and accounts. These volumes may interest researchers studying meteorological conditions as well as other regional phenomena such as eclipses and the Yellow Fever epidemic.
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  Selected Quotations
  • "Oct 14th 1791- about 4 o'clock in the afternoon a large Spot in the Sun disappeared. Same Spot appeared again about the End of Oct and beginning of Nov. the 9th & 10th" (10/14/1791)

  • "The fever very mortal this year" (7/11/1798)
 
 Subjects:  Accounts. | Diaries. | Meteorology. | Rittenhouse, David, 1732-1796. | Travel. | United States--Civilization--1783-1865. | Weather. | Yellow fever--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia. 
 Collection:  Meteorological observations, 1784-1805  (Mss.B.R51d)  
  Go to the collection
 
8.Title:  Edward Uhler Condon Diaries (1939-1971)
 Dates:  1939 - 1971 
 Extent:  35 volumes  
 Locations:  Chicago | London | New York | Philadelphia | Pittsburgh | Princeton | Tokyo | Washington D.C. 
 Abstract:  Theoretical physicist Edward Uhler Condon documents three decades of his professional career through 35 volumes of appointment books and planners (1939-1971). Although his entries are necessarily sparse, these notebooks ought to interest scholars researching his professional activities in government, industry, and the academy (most especially his tenure at Princeton University). Condon recounts a range of professional engagements, including his teaching schedule, meetings, conferences, proposals, and book manuscript development. Notably, early entries register some religious practices (Jewish), such as meetings with rabbis (e.g. 4/16/1939, 10/19/1939), and mounting concerns related to World War II (beginning 3/16/1939). Later journals document his rising professional star, including a memo inviting him to participate in a meeting at Library of Congress (11/7/1949) and National Science Foundation (11/9/1957). Researchers interested in his career will find detailed records of his professional networks, including the names, contact details, and occasionally business cards of associates. 
    
 
    
Theoretical physicist Edward Uhler Condon documents three decades of his professional career through 35 volumes of appointment books and planners (1939-1971). Although his entries are necessarily sparse, these notebooks ought to interest scholars researching his professional activities in government, industry, and the academy (most especially his tenure at Princeton University). Condon recounts a range of professional engagements, including his teaching schedule, meetings, conferences, proposals, and book manuscript development. Notably, early entries register some religious practices (Jewish), such as meetings with rabbis (e.g. 4/16/1939, 10/19/1939), and mounting concerns related to World War II (beginning 3/16/1939). Later journals document his rising professional star, including a memo inviting him to participate in a meeting at Library of Congress (11/7/1949) and National Science Foundation (11/9/1957). Researchers interested in his career will find detailed records of his professional networks, including the names, contact details, and occasionally business cards of associates.
 
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 Subjects:  Accounts. | Diaries. | Higher education & society | Jewish scientists. | Physics. | Princeton University. | United States--Civilization--1918-1945. | United States--Civilization--1945- 
 Collection:  Edward U. Condon Papers  (Mss.B.C752)  
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9.Title:  Francis John Worsley Roughton Notebooks (1927-1966)
 Dates:  1927 - 1966 
 Extent:  38 volumes  
 Locations:  Cambridge | London | New York | Oxford 
 Abstract:  In 38 notebooks that span his career at Cambridge and beyond (1927-66), Francis Roughton records voluminous notes related to his research, meetings, experiments, and finances. These volumes may interest researchers examining Roughton's career and the field of respiratory physiology more generally. 
    
Roughton's notebooks are scattered across eight boxes. Diaries include a 1927 reading/research diary
 
12 appointment diaries maintained between 1928-35, 1954-55, 1962-65
 
and 25 lab notebooks spanning 1940-66 (with exception of 1947-8 and 1954).
 
The research diary includes reading notes as well as formulas, illustrations, and notes related to experiments and lectures.
 
Appointment diaries include sketches and doodles, account balances, breakfast and dinner plans, to-do lists, reading lists, meetings, lectures, and various ephemera. While entries focus on his research and career, Roughton sometimes intersperses personal notes, such as family visits (8/9/1929), vacation plans (3/13/1931), and social outings (12/13/1933). An appointment diary for 1965 tracks his finances between 1947-1972.
 
The laboratory notebooks stretch the definition of diary, and many—not included here—lacking complete dates or years. In addition to notes related to experiments, meetings, and lectures, the laboratory notebooks often include various ephemera such as loose pages of notes, illustrations, and conference programs. For some years, Roughton maintains multiple notebooks. For example, there are at least three books related to 1951 scattered across folders in box 110 and 111. Researchers will find at least an additional 1953 notebook in a "Misc. Undated Folder" in box 116. The 25 books identified in this note include only dated laboratory notebooks
 
researchers interested in Roughton's research would be well-advised to review all laboratory notebooks available in boxes 109-116.
 
    
In 38 notebooks that span his career at Cambridge and beyond (1927-66), Francis Roughton records voluminous notes related to his research, meetings, experiments, and finances. These volumes may interest researchers examining Roughton's career and the field of respiratory physiology more generally.
 
Roughton's notebooks are scattered across eight boxes. Diaries include a 1927 reading/research diary
 
12 appointment diaries maintained between 1928-35, 1954-55, 1962-65
 
and 25 lab notebooks spanning 1940-66 (with exception of 1947-8 and 1954).
 
The research diary includes reading notes as well as formulas, illustrations, and notes related to experiments and lectures.
 
Appointment diaries include sketches and doodles, account balances, breakfast and dinner plans, to-do lists, reading lists, meetings, lectures, and various ephemera. While entries focus on his research and career, Roughton sometimes intersperses personal notes, such as family visits (8/9/1929), vacation plans (3/13/1931), and social outings (12/13/1933). An appointment diary for 1965 tracks his finances between 1947-1972.
 
The laboratory notebooks stretch the definition of diary, and many—not included here—lacking complete dates or years. In addition to notes related to experiments, meetings, and lectures, the laboratory notebooks often include various ephemera such as loose pages of notes, illustrations, and conference programs. For some years, Roughton maintains multiple notebooks. For example, there are at least three books related to 1951 scattered across folders in box 110 and 111. Researchers will find at least an additional 1953 notebook in a "Misc. Undated Folder" in box 116. The 25 books identified in this note include only dated laboratory notebooks
 
researchers interested in Roughton's research would be well-advised to review all laboratory notebooks available in boxes 109-116.
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 Subjects:  Accounts. | Biochemistry. | Cambridge Philosophical Society | Diaries. | Medical Research Council (Great Britain) | Medicine. | Physiology. | Respiratory organs. | Science. | University of Cambridge. 
 Collection:  Francis John Worsley Roughton Papers  (Mss.B.R755)  
  Go to the collection
 
10.Title:  John Pershouse Journal (1800-1838)
 Dates:  1800 - 1838 
 Extent:  1 volume  
 Locations:  Baltimore | Belfast | Bergen | Birmingham | Bologna | Bordeaux | Boston | Brighton | Brussels | Buffalo | Canterbury | Carlisle | Chirk | Cincinnati | Darmstadt | Dieppe | Dover | Dublin | Edinburgh | Exeter | Frankfurt | Glasgow | Havre de Grace | Heidelberg | Huntsville | Kehl | Lewistown | Liverpool | Lockport | London | Louisville | Manchester | Nashville | New York | Niagara Falls | Paris | Philadelphia | Plymouth | Portsmouth | Southampton | Tuscaloosa | Washington D.C. | Wheeling | Worcester, United Kingdom 
 Abstract:  The John Pershouse papers contain two volumes of genealogical data from the late-eighteenth century, two letter books thought to belong to his nephew (Henry Pershouse), and one travel journal. The journal is noteworthy because it furnishes accounts of transatlantic travel in the early national period. While the first entry notes Pershouse's departure from Liverpool to Boston on a 56-day voyage (2/1/1800), regular entries begin around 1826 and continue to late-1838. As a Philadelphia merchant, Pershouse regularly records distances, accounts, and sights in Europe and the United States. Notably, he travels on a ship under the command of a Captain Matlack (presumably Timothy Matlack), travels extensively in the U.S. Southeast and Midwest, and notes the outbreak of the Belgian Revolution in 1830—all excerpted in Selected Quotations. Researchers interested in U.S. domestic and transatlantic travel during the antebellum period ought to find this volume particularly useful. 
    
 
    
The John Pershouse papers contain two volumes of genealogical data from the late-eighteenth century, two letter books thought to belong to his nephew (Henry Pershouse), and one travel journal. The journal is noteworthy because it furnishes accounts of transatlantic travel in the early national period. While the first entry notes Pershouse's departure from Liverpool to Boston on a 56-day voyage (2/1/1800), regular entries begin around 1826 and continue to late-1838. As a Philadelphia merchant, Pershouse regularly records distances, accounts, and sights in Europe and the United States. Notably, he travels on a ship under the command of a Captain Matlack (presumably Timothy Matlack), travels extensively in the U.S. Southeast and Midwest, and notes the outbreak of the Belgian Revolution in 1830—all excerpted in Selected Quotations. Researchers interested in U.S. domestic and transatlantic travel during the antebellum period ought to find this volume particularly useful.
 
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  Selected Quotations
  • "Embark'd in the Ship Atlantic Capt. Matlack at New York paying for passage, bedding, & liquors included $210 or £47.50. Arriv'd at Liv.l 31 Octr after rather a boisterous passage of 31 days" (9/30/1818)

  • "Oct 30 to 12 Jany 1825 in the Western States…The above journeys were in the States of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana" (10/30/1824-1/12/1825)

  • "It appears that on the 25 Augst 4 days after I had left it a revolution broke out at Brussels" (8/25/1830)
 
 Subjects:  Accounts. | Diaries. | Diplomacy. | Europe. | Matlack, Timothy, 1736-1829. | Seafaring life. | Travel. | United States--Civilization--1783-1865. | United States--Politics and government--1783-1865. 
 Collection:  John Pershouse correspondence and papers, 1749-1899  (Mss.B.H228)  
  Go to the collection
 
11.Title:  Samuel W. Sellers, Jennie P. Sellers, and Jennie Haines Diaries (1834-1924)
 Dates:  1834 - 1924 
 Extent:  14 volumes  
 Locations:  Bowmansville | Chester | Kennett Township | Marlborough | Philadelphia | Pughtown | Romansville | Sandy River | West Chester, Pennsylvania | Wilmington 
 Abstract:  David Shinn Collection of Mary Christiana Sellers contains at least 14 diaries spanning nearly a century (1834-1923) and three generations of the Sellers family: Samuel W. Sellers, Jennie P. Sellers and Jennie Haines. Samuel Sellers, who served as justice of the peace in Chester County, furnishes the earliest and longest range of diaries (1834-1881). He maintained journals (most of which are unbound) between 3/1/1834-6/21/1851, 6/15/1851-8/17/1855 (as well as a separate volume for 8/18-11/14/1855), January 1857-October 1858, 11/12/1855-1/31/1875, and 1/3/1878-3/2/1881. Overall, his entries are short, though they record weather, births, deaths, local affairs, some transactions and accounts, and some national news. For example, he commemorates the death of President Polk (6/22/1849) and notes, with some disapproval, an anti-slavery meeting in West Chester staged shortly after the passage of the Compromise of 1850, excerpted in Selected Quotations (10/23/1850). His daughter, Jennie Sellers furnishes two of the most animated journals, particularly for scholars interested in Confederate sympathy in the U.S. North. In her diary from 1860, Jennie, then 16 years old, expresses some disgust with the recently elected president, Abraham Lincoln (March 1860). In her second diary, which traverses the end of the war (1/1/1864-3/20/1866), she records the surrender of General Lee (4/10/1865) assassination of Lincoln (4/15/1865), and funerial procession in Philadelphia (4/16/1865). Perhaps most remarkably, she includes an extended screed against Abraham Lincoln and in defense of John Wilkes Booth, which she may have copied from a local newspaper. That passage is excerpted at length in Selected Quotations. Finally, Jennie Seller's daughter, Jennie Haines furnishes six daybooks from 1887, 1898, 1901, 1904, 1908, and 1923. Maintained in Centennial, Standard, and Daily Reminder diaries, these bound volumes detail the weather, household chores (such as churning butter), visits to the market (often with grocery prices), and miscellaneous accounts. Some of the volumes include various ephemera in the back pockets. Although Jennie Haines rarely discusses national news, she does include at least one oblique reference to the Spanish-American War when she discusses the loss of the Battleship Maine (2/19/1898). 
    
 
    
David Shinn Collection of Mary Christiana Sellers contains at least 14 diaries spanning nearly a century (1834-1923) and three generations of the Sellers family: Samuel W. Sellers, Jennie P. Sellers and Jennie Haines. Samuel Sellers, who served as justice of the peace in Chester County, furnishes the earliest and longest range of diaries (1834-1881). He maintained journals (most of which are unbound) between 3/1/1834-6/21/1851, 6/15/1851-8/17/1855 (as well as a separate volume for 8/18-11/14/1855), January 1857-October 1858, 11/12/1855-1/31/1875, and 1/3/1878-3/2/1881. Overall, his entries are short, though they record weather, births, deaths, local affairs, some transactions and accounts, and some national news. For example, he commemorates the death of President Polk (6/22/1849) and notes, with some disapproval, an anti-slavery meeting in West Chester staged shortly after the passage of the Compromise of 1850, excerpted in Selected Quotations (10/23/1850). His daughter, Jennie Sellers furnishes two of the most animated journals, particularly for scholars interested in Confederate sympathy in the U.S. North. In her diary from 1860, Jennie, then 16 years old, expresses some disgust with the recently elected president, Abraham Lincoln (March 1860). In her second diary, which traverses the end of the war (1/1/1864-3/20/1866), she records the surrender of General Lee (4/10/1865) assassination of Lincoln (4/15/1865), and funerial procession in Philadelphia (4/16/1865). Perhaps most remarkably, she includes an extended screed against Abraham Lincoln and in defense of John Wilkes Booth, which she may have copied from a local newspaper. That passage is excerpted at length in Selected Quotations. Finally, Jennie Seller's daughter, Jennie Haines furnishes six daybooks from 1887, 1898, 1901, 1904, 1908, and 1923. Maintained in Centennial, Standard, and Daily Reminder diaries, these bound volumes detail the weather, household chores (such as churning butter), visits to the market (often with grocery prices), and miscellaneous accounts. Some of the volumes include various ephemera in the back pockets. Although Jennie Haines rarely discusses national news, she does include at least one oblique reference to the Spanish-American War when she discusses the loss of the Battleship Maine (2/19/1898).
 
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  Selected Quotations
  • Samuel Sellers on an Abolitionist Meeting in West Chester: "I understand that to day they had quite a disturbance at the Anti Slavery meeting in West Chester last week. They had a black man for President of the meeting, they passed resolution denouncing the Constitution, General Washington, the father of the Country, all all who favour Union of the States, as being unworthy of the countenance of the self styled decency party, and unworthy of the Kingdom of Heaven" (10/23/1850)

  • Jennie Sellers on Lincoln Assassination: "Edd. Griffith brought word from W. Chester that Abraham Lincoln, President of the Northern States, was shot last night at a theater (where I do not know) and that an attempt was made upon the life of W.H. Seward. I have not learned all the particulars yet. Susan Clark here this evening" (4/15/1865)

  • Jennie Sellers on Lincoln's Funeral: "[T]here is a great excitement in Philadelphia; they are fighting constantly, it takes the whole of the Police force of the City to keep any kind of order, stores all closed this morning" (4/16/1865)

  • Jennie Sellers on John Wilkes Booth: "Last night the 27th of April, a small rowboat received the carcass of the murderer; two men were in it; they carried the body off into the darkness, and out of that darkness it will never return; in the darkness, like his great crime, may it remain forever; impalpable, invisible, nondescript, condemned to that worse than damnation—annihilation. The river bottom may ooze about it laden with great shot and drowning [man]. The earth may have opened to give it that silence and forgiveness, which man will never give to memory. The fishes may swim around it, or the daisies grow white above it; but we shall ever know. Mysterious, incomprehensible, unattainable like the dim times through which we live; and think upon it as it we only dreamed them in perturbed fever. The assassination of a nation's head rests somewhere in the elements, and that is all; But if the indignant seas or the profaned turf shall ever vomit this corpse from their recesses, and it receives Christian burial from someone who does not recognize it, let the last words from those decaying lips ever uttered be carved above them with a dagger, to tell the history of a young and once promising life—useless, useless. Such is the fate of one, who whatever he done was not in my belief deserving such a fate, it will have to be decided by wiser heads than mine, which was the greatest criminal: Abraham Lincoln the wholesale butcherer or J. Wilkes Booth, who shot the greatest tyrant the world has known, but how different their burial. Lincoln, the tyrant, is embalmed, and paraded through the streets of our cities, or Lying in state in some of our public buildings for the curiosity of the people, the sympathy of some, flags are draped in mourning, while the word 'The Nation Mourns its Loss' is printed in letters of fire through all our papers. Booth, the Martyr, is taken off no one knows where, all the indignities a vengeful and fanatic party can think or say, is heaped up the head of one who has done more for American freedom than the whole of the Abolishion party combined together, what a contrast. Who ever thought that William Tell was an assassin? And yet Gesler was no more a tyrant than A. Lincoln. Tis said Charles the First was a tyrant, yet he never did violate the Constitution more than A. Lincoln, yet it is said he deserved his death. It is my opinion that Lincoln earned the bullet that sent him to his account, there to meet the slaughtered victims of his ambition, and the anger of a Just God. Jennie Sellers" (5/3/1865) [NB: some or all of this passage may have been transcribed from local newspapers.]

  • Jennie Haines on the loss of the Battleship Maine: "[T]here seemed to be a mystery why the vessel 'Maine' should be lost in Spanish waters, will be investigated, many think it no accident" (2/19/1898)
 
 Subjects:  Accounts. | American Civil War, 1861-1865 | Diaries. | Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865--Assassination. | Science. | Spanish-American War, 1898. | Weather. | Women--History. 
 Collection:  David Shinn Collection of Mary Christiana Sellers  (Mss.SMs.Coll.3)  
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12.Title:  William Strahan Journals (1751-1777)
 Dates:  1751 - 1777 
 Extent:  4 volumes  
 Locations:  Aberford | Belford | Biggleswade | Burrow Bridge | Carlyle | Doncaster | Durham | Edinburgh | Elvanfoot | Felton | Glasgow | Harwood | Hatfield | Lille | London | Newark-on-Trent | Newcastle | Northampton | Oxford | Paisley | Scarborough | Shropshire | Stamford, United Kingdom | Windsor | York 
 Abstract:  The William Strahan diary encompasses four volumes spanning 1751-1777. The first volume features the most detailed entries, whereas the second and third volumes include shorter accounts of multiple excursions and the fourth volume serves less as a journal than a summation of accounts, debts, and holdings. The first volume's accounts of mid-eighteenth-century England ought to interest researchers interested in English urban space, governance, and social conduct. 
    
Researchers will likely gravitate to Strahan's first volume, a detailed, six-week account of European travels taken in 1751 (7/6-8/28). Alongside accounts of weather, road and travel conditions, and various social gatherings (e.g. breakfasts, dinners, teas), Strahan's entries offer glimpses into eighteenth-century English conduct, church services, universities, courts, libraries, as well as villages, towns, and cities and their inhabitants. For example, Straham describes Newcastle as a "a place of Business and Industry equal to London" (7/15) and Paisley as a "perfect hive of industrious people" (8/6). Attending a trial, he remarks upon the conduct of the participants, writing, "The court was very solemn and the lawyers were both elegant and behaved with remarkable decency" (7/22). Strahan even visits a poorhouse in Edinburgh, by which, he remarks, "the City is not only freed of all beggars, but the offspring of such are [tirelessly] snatched from Destruction, so that the Race of disorderly people are hereby extinguished" (7/30).
 
The second (1759, 1760, 1766), third (1768, 1773, 1777), and fourth volumes (1755-1761) are much less detailed but sketch his travel (and distances covered). The fourth volume, in particular, more closely resembles an account book than a journal. As he takes stock of his properties, assets, and debts, Straham records his increasingly wealth—from £ 5,000 in total assets in 1755 to £ 12,000 in 1761.
 
    
The William Strahan diary encompasses four volumes spanning 1751-1777. The first volume features the most detailed entries, whereas the second and third volumes include shorter accounts of multiple excursions and the fourth volume serves less as a journal than a summation of accounts, debts, and holdings. The first volume's accounts of mid-eighteenth-century England ought to interest researchers interested in English urban space, governance, and social conduct.
 
Researchers will likely gravitate to Strahan's first volume, a detailed, six-week account of European travels taken in 1751 (7/6-8/28). Alongside accounts of weather, road and travel conditions, and various social gatherings (e.g. breakfasts, dinners, teas), Strahan's entries offer glimpses into eighteenth-century English conduct, church services, universities, courts, libraries, as well as villages, towns, and cities and their inhabitants. For example, Straham describes Newcastle as a "a place of Business and Industry equal to London" (7/15) and Paisley as a "perfect hive of industrious people" (8/6). Attending a trial, he remarks upon the conduct of the participants, writing, "The court was very solemn and the lawyers were both elegant and behaved with remarkable decency" (7/22). Strahan even visits a poorhouse in Edinburgh, by which, he remarks, "the City is not only freed of all beggars, but the offspring of such are [tirelessly] snatched from Destruction, so that the Race of disorderly people are hereby extinguished" (7/30).
 
The second (1759, 1760, 1766), third (1768, 1773, 1777), and fourth volumes (1755-1761) are much less detailed but sketch his travel (and distances covered). The fourth volume, in particular, more closely resembles an account book than a journal. As he takes stock of his properties, assets, and debts, Straham records his increasingly wealth—from £ 5,000 in total assets in 1755 to £ 12,000 in 1761.
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  Selected Quotations
  • Woolsthorpe: "[P]assed by a small house in an obscure village called Woolsthorpe, where the great Isaac Newton was born" (7/9/1751)

  • Newcastle: "Here is a place of Business and Industry equal to London. The town is large, has a great many streets, and substantial Inhabitants" (7/15/1751)

  • Paisley: "[T]he most thriving place in this country...It is indeed a perfect hive of industrious people" (8/6/1751)
 
 Subjects:  Accounts. | Booksellers and bookselling. | Conduct of life--Anecdotes. | Diaries. | Europe. | Great Britain--History--1714-1837. | Great Britain--Social life and customs--18th century. | Printing. | Scotland--History--18th century. | Travel. | Urban planning and environment | Weather. 
 Collection:  William Strahan journals and accounts, 1751-1777  (Mss.B.St83.St83x1)  
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13.Title:  Albert Charles Peale Diaries (1864-1877)
 Dates:  1864 - 1877 
 Extent:  9 volumes  
 Locations:  Baltimore | Bear River | Blackfoot | Buffalo Peak | Cheyenne | Chicago | Colorado Springs | Council Bluffs | Denver | Fairplay | Fremont Butte | Hamilton | Kansas City | Ogden | Omaha | Philadelphia | Pikes Peak | Richmond | Savannah | Soda Springs | Washington D.C. | Wilmington 
 Abstract:  Albert C. Peale Papers contain nine volumes that might be classified as diaries. These volumes traverse the American Civil War and Reconstruction period (1864-1877) and provide a window into the exploration and conquest of what is today Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah. The great-grandson of Charles Willson Peale, Albert Charles Peale was a prominent geologist in and author of numerous books in geology, mineralogy, and paleobotany. His journals offer a glimpse into his contributions to the Ferdinand Hayden expeditions, which explored and mapped the western United States. In furnishing numerous accounts of local indigenous peoples, including the Bannock and Shosoni, these volumes may interest scholars researching Native America, western exploration, the fields of geology and mineralogy, and the history of science. 
    
The first three volumes in the Albert C. Peale Papers are the most idiosyncratic. They include a daybook with weather observations (3/10-5/18/1864), a diary associated with a tour of Washington, D.C. during President Andrew Johnson's administration (c.1865-1869), and a lecture notebook pertaining to studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Of those early volumes, A. C. Peale's diary of his tour of Washington D.C. is perhaps most noteworthy. It recounts his travels from Philadelphia through Wilmington and Baltimore, tours of monuments and government buildings, including the U.S. Patent Office, Government Printing Office, and White House, and a handshake with President Johnson during that tour (2/7/1865).
 
The remaining six diaries (1872-1877) are devoted to various western expeditions in what is today Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah. In his first diary (5/15-7/20/1872), A. C. Peale recounts his travel by rail from Philadelphia to Omaha, from which he would conduct his western expeditions. The second volume (5/29-8/15/1873), devotes significant attention to his mineralogical work, including gathering fossils, documenting canyons and volcanic peaks, and ascending various peaks and plateaus. Notably, he references photographer William Henry Jackson, who he writes "disturbed us to take a picture." (8/8/1873). The next two diaries (8/16-10/26/1873 and 5/14/1873-7/18/1874) recount the movement of the party over the next year, most especially campsites, weather problems, and travel constraints. The latter volume also records trip to Savannah (11/20/1873) and includes some accounts in the back of the journal.
 
The final two volumes continue in much the same vein, but offer records of interactions with Bannock and Shosoni Indians. The diary dated 7/19-11/10/1874 documents A. C. Peale's expeditions along branches of the Gunnison River, during which he encounters local tribes on multiple occasions (8/29/1874 and 9/20/1874). The final diary (5/27-10/9/1877), which corresponds with trips into western Wyoming, records numerous interactions with Bannock and Shosoni. For example, A. C. Peale writes that a Shosoni woman shares news of a fight between the whites and the Sioux (6/7/1877), and he commends the English of Bannock outside a ranch near Smith Fork (6/29/1877). Not all interactions are harmonious, however. A. C. Peale also records that Bannock kill two teamsters (8/8/1877) and that one of his his party (Gibbon) loses 300 new guns in a fight (8/23/1877).
 
    
Albert C. Peale Papers contain nine volumes that might be classified as diaries. These volumes traverse the American Civil War and Reconstruction period (1864-1877) and provide a window into the exploration and conquest of what is today Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah. The great-grandson of Charles Willson Peale, Albert Charles Peale was a prominent geologist in and author of numerous books in geology, mineralogy, and paleobotany. His journals offer a glimpse into his contributions to the Ferdinand Hayden expeditions, which explored and mapped the western United States. In furnishing numerous accounts of local indigenous peoples, including the Bannock and Shosoni, these volumes may interest scholars researching Native America, western exploration, the fields of geology and mineralogy, and the history of science.
 
The first three volumes in the Albert C. Peale Papers are the most idiosyncratic. They include a daybook with weather observations (3/10-5/18/1864), a diary associated with a tour of Washington, D.C. during President Andrew Johnson's administration (c.1865-1869), and a lecture notebook pertaining to studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Of those early volumes, A. C. Peale's diary of his tour of Washington D.C. is perhaps most noteworthy. It recounts his travels from Philadelphia through Wilmington and Baltimore, tours of monuments and government buildings, including the U.S. Patent Office, Government Printing Office, and White House, and a handshake with President Johnson during that tour (2/7/1865).
 
The remaining six diaries (1872-1877) are devoted to various western expeditions in what is today Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah. In his first diary (5/15-7/20/1872), A. C. Peale recounts his travel by rail from Philadelphia to Omaha, from which he would conduct his western expeditions. The second volume (5/29-8/15/1873), devotes significant attention to his mineralogical work, including gathering fossils, documenting canyons and volcanic peaks, and ascending various peaks and plateaus. Notably, he references photographer William Henry Jackson, who he writes "disturbed us to take a picture." (8/8/1873). The next two diaries (8/16-10/26/1873 and 5/14/1873-7/18/1874) recount the movement of the party over the next year, most especially campsites, weather problems, and travel constraints. The latter volume also records trip to Savannah (11/20/1873) and includes some accounts in the back of the journal.
 
The final two volumes continue in much the same vein, but offer records of interactions with Bannock and Shosoni Indians. The diary dated 7/19-11/10/1874 documents A. C. Peale's expeditions along branches of the Gunnison River, during which he encounters local tribes on multiple occasions (8/29/1874 and 9/20/1874). The final diary (5/27-10/9/1877), which corresponds with trips into western Wyoming, records numerous interactions with Bannock and Shosoni. For example, A. C. Peale writes that a Shosoni woman shares news of a fight between the whites and the Sioux (6/7/1877), and he commends the English of Bannock outside a ranch near Smith Fork (6/29/1877). Not all interactions are harmonious, however. A. C. Peale also records that Bannock kill two teamsters (8/8/1877) and that one of his his party (Gibbon) loses 300 new guns in a fight (8/23/1877).
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 Subjects:  Accounts. | American Civil War, 1861-1865 | American Western Life | Bannock Indians | Diaries. | Expedition | Geology. | Indians of North America--West (U.S.) | Indigenous people. | Johnson, Andrew, 1808-1875. | Mineralogy. | Railroad | Shoshoni Indians. | Sioux Nation. | Science. | Travel. | United States--Civilization--1865-1918. | University of Pennsylvania. | Weather. 
 Collection:  Albert C. Peale Papers  (Mss.SMs.Coll.5)  
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14.Title:  Wister Family Journals (1773-1903)
 Dates:  1773 - 1903 
 Extent:  19 volumes  
 Locations:  Auburn | Ballston | Bedford | Carlisle, New York | Cayuga | Cazenovia | Cherry Valley | Columbia | Duanesburg | Duncannon | Elmira | Genesee Falls | Greensburg | Guilderland | Lewiston | Lynchburg | Manlius | Nelson | Oswego | Richfield | Schoharie | Seneca Falls | Sharon | Sloystown | Springfield, New York | Utica | Albany | Baltimore | Bridgewater | Buffalo | Camden | Carlisle, Pennsylvania | Chambersburg | Easton | Germantown | Lancaster | Lexington | Litchfield | Natural Bridge | New York | Newport | Niagara Falls | Norfolk | Philadelphia | Pittsburgh | Poughkeepsie | Princeton | Shippensburg | Trenton | Washington D.C. | Williamsport 
 Abstract:  The Eastwick collection features at least 19 diaries, travel journals, and notebooks maintained by various members of the Wister family between 1773-1903. While the majority of the volumes which were maintained by Charles Wister, Sr. or his son Charles Wister, Jr., the collection also includes contributions from Jesse and John Lukens, Daniel and Sarah Wister, William Wynne Wister, and Lowry Wister. The scope of the collection and multitude of diarists is matched by the diversity of the journals. The Eastwick collection includes personal diaries, travel journals, recipe books, commonplace books, memoranda books, account books, field notebooks, and volumes that defy simple definition. Researchers will discover early accounts of Bristol, Pennsylvania (1783), Pittsburgh (1812), and Niagara Falls (1815), records of gardening, beekeeping, farm work, and daguerreotyping, and accounts of both the evacuation of the Philadelphia in 1778, the surrender of General Lee at Appomattox in 1865, and a visit by General La Fayette to Germantown in 1825. Suffice it to say, these volumes will serve a range of different scholars, including those researching the American Revolution and Civil War, Native America, women's history, the history of photography (daguerreotyping in particular), and nineteenth-century travel, surveyorship, agriculture, husbandry, and beekeeping. 
    
The Eastwick papers include at least 19 diaries, travel journals, and various notebooks maintained by multiple families between 1773-1903. This extended note will offer an overview of their contents in sequential order.
 
The collection contains at least four eighteenth-century journals. The earliest volume, "Aitkens General American Register (with notes)," serves primarily as an account book from 1773. Notably, an April entry includes a note pertaining to Philadelphia evacuations during the American Revolution: "On June 1778, Just one week after the evacuations of the city of Philadelphia by the British Army, Mr. Rittenhouse…Dr. Smith and Mr. Owen Biddle were buried in [making] observations there." Jesse Lukens's "Notes of Surveys" spans much of 1774 (5/10/-9/10/1774), and includes some Indian names and various accounts at the end of the volume. Longitudes and latitudes are interspersed throughout. While dated 1778, "Garden Book by Wister, Daniel and Sarah" features entries spanning 1771-1776. Daniel Wister uses the notebooks as a garden book, recording bulbs and flowers planted, whereas Sally (Sarah) Wister uses it as a travel journal related to a trip to North Wales. "Poor Will's Almanack (with notes) includes entries from 1777-1778 pertaining to weather accounts, and the surveying business of a John Luhms.
 
The next two diaries recount two trips taken by Charles Jones Wister, Sr. in 1812 and 1815. The first "Diary of a trip to Pittsburgh by Wister, Charles," documents his trip to Pittsburgh in the spring of 1812 (5/27-7/19/1812). It notes various stops between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. "Diary of a trip to Niagara Falls" records a trip in the summer of 1815 (7/24-8/25/1815). Notably, Wister discusses contact with both Oneida and Seneca settlements, both of which are excerpted in Selected Quotations (8/9/1815, 8/13/1815).
 
William Wynne Wister's "Weather Account Book" (1818-1821) records the weather, winds, and temperatures of an unspecified location.
 
The next two volumes are more closely resemble field notebooks than diaries. The first, entitled "Bees: June 16, 1824" recounts Charles Jones Wister's (presumably Sr.) purchase of a swarm of bees. Maintained until 8/29/1828, Wister documents breaking open the hive, extracting honey, and installing a plate of glass through which he can watch production, writing, "to my great surprise and joy I found the bees busily employ'd in mending the combs sealing up the broken parts & fastening them to the sides of the tree." He continues purchasing hives (accumulating 10 in total) upon which he conducts various experiments. The next "Diary" (1841) serves as a journal of Wister's work in daguerreotyping. A sample entry reads: "Succeeded in taking the first Daguerreotype picture at 3 P.M. in 12 minutes on the 27th of the 7 Mo. 1840 after two attempts."
 
Charles Jones Wister, Jr. maintained five volumes between 1842-1856. The first diary documents his personal affairs in Duncannon, Pennsylvania, and includes several letters from the fall of 1842. The next journal records personal affairs in and around Germantown in April 1848. The following two volumes were maintained in 1854. The first "Recipes & Directions," dated August 1854, is less a diary than a collection of notes related to handiwork, including tools and recipes for glue and cement. The next volume serves as a travel journal of Virginia and Maryland. While entries begin in October 1854, come continue as late as October 1869. Wister also maintained a diary pertaining to a trip to New York and Niagara Falls taken in the summer of 1856 (7/1-8/23/1856).
 
While not a diary, per se, Charles Jones Wister, Jr.'s "Notes" includes some dated entries spanning 1864-1865. Those entries might be called miscellany, with illustrations of Germantown woods, notes on the sport of cricket, and observations on current affairs. Notably, Wister records at least one piece of news from to the American Civil War: "The news of Gen'l Lee's surrender, the great achievement all felt would be the virtual end of the Rebellion, and to which all hopes have been bent with the upmost [nervousness] since the fall of Richmond, on the Sunday previous, reached Phila. about 9 ½ o'clock this even'g…" (4/9/1865). A second volume from 1865, entitled "Diary of Trip," recounts a trip to Newport, including meteorological observations (10/10/1865-9/1867).
 
"Diary & Farm Notes" is one of the more unusual records in the collection. Co-authored by Charles Jones Wister, Sr. and Jr., this volume spans much of the nineteenth century (1806-1878). Although much of it is devoted to farm chores—slaughtering hogs, blacking boots, filling the ice house, and smoking meat—there is at least one account concerning General La Fayette's visit to Germantown, excerpted in Selected Quotations (7/20/1825). There's also an note on locusts swarms, which appear to have been a recurring problem for the farmhands: "Locusts appeared this warm sultry morning for the first time. Rose bushes are covered with them and ground ruined in many places, probably their first appearance was delayed by the unusual backwardness of the season, there having been but little to remind one of the summer until now. It will be seen by reference to mem. In this book that both in the years 1817 & 1834 they made their appearance on the 23rd of May" (6/6/1868).
 
The last two volumes tax the definition of a diary, but include useful material nevertheless. The first, Charles Jones Wister, Jr.'s "Record of New Year Eves," serves as a kind of commonplace book traversing 50 years of his life (1852-1903). It includes excerpts, poetry, and quotes at the front of the volume, and various newspaper clippings throughout. Finally, Lowry Wister's undated "Medical Recipes" functions as recipe book, with prescriptions for various maladies, preventative and curative, including "sore eyes," "preventing a miscarriage," and "hooping cough."
 
    
The Eastwick collection features at least 19 diaries, travel journals, and notebooks maintained by various members of the Wister family between 1773-1903. While the majority of the volumes which were maintained by Charles Wister, Sr. or his son Charles Wister, Jr., the collection also includes contributions from Jesse and John Lukens, Daniel and Sarah Wister, William Wynne Wister, and Lowry Wister. The scope of the collection and multitude of diarists is matched by the diversity of the journals. The Eastwick collection includes personal diaries, travel journals, recipe books, commonplace books, memoranda books, account books, field notebooks, and volumes that defy simple definition. Researchers will discover early accounts of Bristol, Pennsylvania (1783), Pittsburgh (1812), and Niagara Falls (1815), records of gardening, beekeeping, farm work, and daguerreotyping, and accounts of both the evacuation of the Philadelphia in 1778, the surrender of General Lee at Appomattox in 1865, and a visit by General La Fayette to Germantown in 1825. Suffice it to say, these volumes will serve a range of different scholars, including those researching the American Revolution and Civil War, Native America, women's history, the history of photography (daguerreotyping in particular), and nineteenth-century travel, surveyorship, agriculture, husbandry, and beekeeping.
 
The Eastwick papers include at least 19 diaries, travel journals, and various notebooks maintained by multiple families between 1773-1903. This extended note will offer an overview of their contents in sequential order.
 
The collection contains at least four eighteenth-century journals. The earliest volume, "Aitkens General American Register (with notes)," serves primarily as an account book from 1773. Notably, an April entry includes a note pertaining to Philadelphia evacuations during the American Revolution: "On June 1778, Just one week after the evacuations of the city of Philadelphia by the British Army, Mr. Rittenhouse…Dr. Smith and Mr. Owen Biddle were buried in [making] observations there." Jesse Lukens's "Notes of Surveys" spans much of 1774 (5/10/-9/10/1774), and includes some Indian names and various accounts at the end of the volume. Longitudes and latitudes are interspersed throughout. While dated 1778, "Garden Book by Wister, Daniel and Sarah" features entries spanning 1771-1776. Daniel Wister uses the notebooks as a garden book, recording bulbs and flowers planted, whereas Sally (Sarah) Wister uses it as a travel journal related to a trip to North Wales. "Poor Will's Almanack (with notes) includes entries from 1777-1778 pertaining to weather accounts, and the surveying business of a John Luhms.
 
The next two diaries recount two trips taken by Charles Jones Wister, Sr. in 1812 and 1815. The first "Diary of a trip to Pittsburgh by Wister, Charles," documents his trip to Pittsburgh in the spring of 1812 (5/27-7/19/1812). It notes various stops between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. "Diary of a trip to Niagara Falls" records a trip in the summer of 1815 (7/24-8/25/1815). Notably, Wister discusses contact with both Oneida and Seneca settlements, both of which are excerpted in Selected Quotations (8/9/1815, 8/13/1815).
 
William Wynne Wister's "Weather Account Book" (1818-1821) records the weather, winds, and temperatures of an unspecified location.
 
The next two volumes are more closely resemble field notebooks than diaries. The first, entitled "Bees: June 16, 1824" recounts Charles Jones Wister's (presumably Sr.) purchase of a swarm of bees. Maintained until 8/29/1828, Wister documents breaking open the hive, extracting honey, and installing a plate of glass through which he can watch production, writing, "to my great surprise and joy I found the bees busily employ'd in mending the combs sealing up the broken parts & fastening them to the sides of the tree." He continues purchasing hives (accumulating 10 in total) upon which he conducts various experiments. The next "Diary" (1841) serves as a journal of Wister's work in daguerreotyping. A sample entry reads: "Succeeded in taking the first Daguerreotype picture at 3 P.M. in 12 minutes on the 27th of the 7 Mo. 1840 after two attempts."
 
Charles Jones Wister, Jr. maintained five volumes between 1842-1856. The first diary documents his personal affairs in Duncannon, Pennsylvania, and includes several letters from the fall of 1842. The next journal records personal affairs in and around Germantown in April 1848. The following two volumes were maintained in 1854. The first "Recipes & Directions," dated August 1854, is less a diary than a collection of notes related to handiwork, including tools and recipes for glue and cement. The next volume serves as a travel journal of Virginia and Maryland. While entries begin in October 1854, come continue as late as October 1869. Wister also maintained a diary pertaining to a trip to New York and Niagara Falls taken in the summer of 1856 (7/1-8/23/1856).
 
While not a diary, per se, Charles Jones Wister, Jr.'s "Notes" includes some dated entries spanning 1864-1865. Those entries might be called miscellany, with illustrations of Germantown woods, notes on the sport of cricket, and observations on current affairs. Notably, Wister records at least one piece of news from to the American Civil War: "The news of Gen'l Lee's surrender, the great achievement all felt would be the virtual end of the Rebellion, and to which all hopes have been bent with the upmost [nervousness] since the fall of Richmond, on the Sunday previous, reached Phila. about 9 ½ o'clock this even'g…" (4/9/1865). A second volume from 1865, entitled "Diary of Trip," recounts a trip to Newport, including meteorological observations (10/10/1865-9/1867).
 
"Diary & Farm Notes" is one of the more unusual records in the collection. Co-authored by Charles Jones Wister, Sr. and Jr., this volume spans much of the nineteenth century (1806-1878). Although much of it is devoted to farm chores—slaughtering hogs, blacking boots, filling the ice house, and smoking meat—there is at least one account concerning General La Fayette's visit to Germantown, excerpted in Selected Quotations (7/20/1825). There's also an note on locusts swarms, which appear to have been a recurring problem for the farmhands: "Locusts appeared this warm sultry morning for the first time. Rose bushes are covered with them and ground ruined in many places, probably their first appearance was delayed by the unusual backwardness of the season, there having been but little to remind one of the summer until now. It will be seen by reference to mem. In this book that both in the years 1817 & 1834 they made their appearance on the 23rd of May" (6/6/1868).
 
The last two volumes tax the definition of a diary, but include useful material nevertheless. The first, Charles Jones Wister, Jr.'s "Record of New Year Eves," serves as a kind of commonplace book traversing 50 years of his life (1852-1903). It includes excerpts, poetry, and quotes at the front of the volume, and various newspaper clippings throughout. Finally, Lowry Wister's undated "Medical Recipes" functions as recipe book, with prescriptions for various maladies, preventative and curative, including "sore eyes," "preventing a miscarriage," and "hooping cough."
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  Selected Quotations
  • "passed thro' the Oneida settlement of Indians. How interesting the sight groups of Indians in their native state men & women before their cottages 20's & 30's collected on the road some half naked some pretty well clad in blankets the young men with bow & arrow very pretty young squaws and very shy…" (8/9/1815)

  • "walked two miles to see a settlement of Senaca Indians situated about 42 miles from the stage road, we found them some standing at the door of their cabins some lying down, men & women went into their huts women pounding hominy, shook hands with them, they appear'd miserbly poor & very dirty they said they had plenty of corn, they are by no means communicative discover'd no disposition to converse, exahbited no symptom of [surprise?], features unchanged as monumental marble asked for their chief said he gone to a Great council about to be held at Onondaga gave them some money & went on, met numbers on the road going to the council some with bow & arrows some with rifles a young squaw about 16 years old was lying on a deer skin at the door of one of their cabins…" (8/13/1815)

  • "General La Fayette visited Germantown he arriv'd about 9 o'clock AM accompany'd by his son G.W. La Fayette & his Secretary Mons [Le Vasseur]. He was met on Logans [Hill] by the Military & Breakfasted a[t] Chews from when he provided to Chestnut Hill & return'd to R. Haines when I had the pleasure to introduce him to all the Ladies of Germantown from there I accompanied him in his Barouche & four surrounded by a troop of horse to visit the academy where he was addressed by the principal on behalf of the Boys & we then parted with him on the return to Philade" (7/20/1825)
 
 Subjects:  Accounts. | Agriculture. | Biddle, Owen, 1737-1799 | American Civil War, 1861-1865 | Bees. | Commonplace books. | Diaries. | Daguerreotypists | Lee, Robert E. (Robert Edward), 1807-1870 | Medicine. | Meteorology. | Native America | Oneida Indians. | Philadelphia history | Photography. | Rittenhouse, David, 1732-1796. | Seneca Indians. | Surveys. | Travel. | United States--Civilization--1783-1865. | United States--Civilization--1865-1918. | United States--History--Revolution, 1775-1783. | Weather. | Women--History. 
 Collection:  Eastwick Collection, 1746-1929  (Mss.974.811.Ea7)  
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15.Title:  Vaux Family Diaries (1759-1951)
 Dates:  1759 - 1951 
 Extent:  160 volumes  
 Locations:  Adirondack | Albany | Atlanta | Atlantic City | Baltimore | Bar Harbor | Bath, Maine | Bath, United Kingdom | Belfast | Bethlehem | Birmingham, United Kingdom | Boston | Bristol, United Kingdom | Bryn Mawr | Burlington | Calgary | Cambridge | Charleston | Chicago | Cologne | Denver | Detroit | Dublin | Edinburgh | Edmonton | Field | Geneva | Glacier | Glasgow | Grand Canyon | Harrisburg | Hartford | Haverford | Heidelberg | Jersey City | Kansas City | Kennebunkport | Lake Louise | Lake Mohawk | Leeds | Liverpool | London | Los Angeles | Lucerne | Mammoth Springs | Manchester | Marquette | Milan | Milwaukee | Minneapolis | Montclair | Monterey | Montreal | Narragansett | New Brunswick | New Haven | New York | Newport | Niagara Falls | Norfolk | North Bend | Oxford | Paris | Pasadena | Philadelphia | Pittsburg | Plymouth | Port Arthur | Portland, Maine | Portland, Oregon | Portsmouth | Quebec City | Rapid City | Reno | Richmond | Saint Andrews | Saint Gallen | Saint Paul | Salem | Salt Lake City | San Antonio | San Francisco | Santa Barbara | Santa Clara | Santa Fe | Santa Monica | Sheffield | Sioux City | St. Louis | Swarthmore | Tacoma | Tuskegee | Vancouver | Victoria | Washington D.C. | Winnipeg | Wiscasset | Yosemite Valley 
 Abstract:  The sprawling Vaux Family Papers include at least 160 volumes of diaries traversing two centuries of American history (1759-1951). While those journals are maintained predominantly by generations of George, Richard, and William Vaux the collection is bookended by Richard Vaux (1781) and Mary Walsh James Vaux (1906-1951), both of whom supply some of the most surprising records in the collection. (In fact, the Vaux family included some 10 Georges, three Richards, and two Williams.) Reading across these papers, researchers will discover accounts of early American religion during the Second Great Awakening (especially the Society of Friends and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), European towns and cities between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, late-nineteenth century conservation (with accounts of 1880s Yosemite and Theodore Roosevelt), ante and postbellum U.S. politics (including short-lived factions such as the Locofocos), the fields of business, architecture, and photography, and women's history. 
    
The majority Vaux diaries are maintained at least two generations of George Vaux (1800-1927). Those volumes include entries that may interest researchers investigating late-antebellum politics, religion, and Vaux family history (1854-59 diaries), postbellum weather and meteorological observations (1853-1915 daybooks), late-nineteenth century architecture and urban development ("Llsyfran Diary," 1886-1915), and the religious practices of American Friends in the nineteenth century (1825-1927 and 1886-1901 diaries). However, there are also noteworthy volumes from William Vaux, Richard Vaux, Samuel Sansom, and Mary Vaux.
 
William Vaux
 
The diaries of William Vaux (1883-1908) may interest researchers exploring Philadelphia regional history, western expeditions, late-nineteenth century science (especially photography), late-nineteenth century presidential politics, and the 1893 World's Fair, for which Vaux includes a dedicated volume. In addition to accounts of education, marriage, funerals, and the religious practices of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, William Vaux offers at least one account of Brigham Young and the Mormons (1883 diary). Most volumes emphasize his participation in university life (Haverford College and the Drexel Institute), athletics (the American Alpine Club), and postbellum science (the Photographic Society of Philadelphia, the Quaker Asylum and Penitentiary), with occasional notes pertaining to presidential politics, such as the election and assassination of William McKinley.
 
Richard Vaux
 
Two volumes contained in the Richard Vaux papers warrant careful attention. A typed transcript of a 1781 diary (1/1-10/27) furnishes an account of a loyalist during the American Revolution. As detailed in George Vaux's short introduction to the diary, Vaux apprenticed with Samuel Sansom in Philadelphia beginning in 1768. (The original diary, which begins in March 1779 is unavailable.) A loyalist, he spent much of the war in London and returned to Philadelphia shortly after the revolution (c. 1784). Each entry includes paragraph-length account of personal affairs of and socializing with the English upper class, typically beginning with breakfast meetings and running until often quite late at night (usually Vaux notes that he returns home around 11 or midnight, though several entries are much later). Typical social events include breakfasts and dinners (and the individuals involved), pipe smoking, excursions around England, theater showings (e.g. Covent Garden Play House), daily visits to coffee shops (especially Lloyd's Coffee House), painting exhibitions (including the work of Benjamin West), and the Free Mason Lodge. As George Vaux notes in his introduction, Richard is a "man of the world." He also spends a fairly extraordinary amount of time and money on inns and taverns (including Ambrose Lloyd's, Queens Head Tavern, Bull Tavern, March's Tavern, and Falcon Inn). Equally descriptive are his meticulous accounts of expenses: coffee houses and coaches are the most frequent expenses, though Richard Vaux also notes spending on charity, tobacco, tea, newspapers, baths, books, brandy, and milk.
 
Beginning in September 1781, Richard Vaux embarks on a transatlantic voyage, during which he measures daily progress (distance traveled) and coordinates (latitudes). His time on board is marked by ubiquitous illness, particularly sea sickness, injuries, and fevers. The reader also gains a rich sense of the sailors' diets (including pickled tongues) and daily trials (e.g. pests, as Richard records "dismal nights with the bugs" on multiple occasions, including 10/8 and 10/16). Notably, the narrative ends when the ship is boarded by the Hendrik Privateer, a New England ship under the command of Thomas Bensom, which seizes their brig as a "prize to America" and ransacks their stores (10/26).
 
Samuel Sansom
 
Also included in the Richard Vaux papers is the European travel journal of Samuel Sansom (1759-1760), which provides some of the lengthiest, most conversational, and public-facing diary entries researchers will encounter anywhere in the APS collections. The Sansom diary opens with a note from his former apprentice, Richard Vaux, and other front matter suggests that the journal was transcribed at sea from loose pages so that the author could enable his friends to "partake with him in the entertainment he experiences (in the days of his youth)." The volume also features an excerpt from Elizabeth Drinker's journal with a silhouette of Sansom and a note that Sansom left London on 4/1/1760 and returned to Philadelphia on 5/4/1760.
 
Sansom's account begins at the outset of his transatlantic journey, and pays significant attention to travel delays
 
in fact, leaks require his ship to return to Philadelphia just nine days after departure. Upon arriving in London, Sansom travels widely and socializes continuously, particularly with the English upper class. He attends Quaker meetings, frequents coffee houses, and he is preoccupied with various curiosities, from wax figures (11/13/1759) to a dwarf and giant (2/22/1760). Sansom proves a studious observer of the mechanics of production (e.g. grist mills), English towns and cities (especially Birmingham), and Quaker sermons and religious practices. He regularly intersperses prosaic observations with grand musings (reference the 12/20/1759 and 2/1/1760 entries for examples) intended to instruct and delight the friends he imagines will later read his volume with rapt anticipation.
 
Mary Vaux
 
Finally, the Mary Walsh James Vaux maintained a diary in 1906 and for most of the period spanning 1921-1951. Those 40 volumes may interest researchers interested in women's history, Philadelphia regional history, Vaux family history, western expeditions, and the outbreak of WWII. Vaux's diaries include inspirational quotes, notes from religious meetings, lectures, and receptions, shopping lists, addresses, and notes on the weather. Her entries frequently reference the Pennsylvania Yearly Meeting (Society of Friends) as well as the League of Women Voters, Female Society for the Relief and Employ of the Poor, and the Salvation Army. Diaries sometimes include ephemera, such as dried leaves and photographs (1927).
 
Although Mary Vaux tends to record cursory notes, sometimes her entries provide insights into her emotional state. Vaux appears to have suffered from depression (reference, for example, 10/29/1927, 11/3/1927, 11/13/1939, and 5/4/1940) and often register significant shifts in mood (compare 9/24/1906 to 11/4/1906). A notebook also appears to include numerous personal letters Mary Vaux collected from her husband, George Vaux, spanning 1932-34. (Each entry begins, "George Vaux is here to speak to Mary"). World War II surfaces in her later diary entries. While Mary Vaux rarely discusses politics or war, her 1940 Pomernatz diary includes draft numbers in place of the 10/27-29 entries. The 12/7/1941 entry in her Excelsior diary and the 12/8/1941 entry in her Pomernatz diary note the outbreak of World War II.
 
    
The sprawling Vaux Family Papers include at least 160 volumes of diaries traversing two centuries of American history (1759-1951). While those journals are maintained predominantly by generations of George, Richard, and William Vaux the collection is bookended by Richard Vaux (1781) and Mary Walsh James Vaux (1906-1951), both of whom supply some of the most surprising records in the collection. (In fact, the Vaux family included some 10 Georges, three Richards, and two Williams.) Reading across these papers, researchers will discover accounts of early American religion during the Second Great Awakening (especially the Society of Friends and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), European towns and cities between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, late-nineteenth century conservation (with accounts of 1880s Yosemite and Theodore Roosevelt), ante and postbellum U.S. politics (including short-lived factions such as the Locofocos), the fields of business, architecture, and photography, and women's history.
 
The majority Vaux diaries are maintained at least two generations of George Vaux (1800-1927). Those volumes include entries that may interest researchers investigating late-antebellum politics, religion, and Vaux family history (1854-59 diaries), postbellum weather and meteorological observations (1853-1915 daybooks), late-nineteenth century architecture and urban development ("Llsyfran Diary," 1886-1915), and the religious practices of American Friends in the nineteenth century (1825-1927 and 1886-1901 diaries). However, there are also noteworthy volumes from William Vaux, Richard Vaux, Samuel Sansom, and Mary Vaux.
 
William Vaux
 
The diaries of William Vaux (1883-1908) may interest researchers exploring Philadelphia regional history, western expeditions, late-nineteenth century science (especially photography), late-nineteenth century presidential politics, and the 1893 World's Fair, for which Vaux includes a dedicated volume. In addition to accounts of education, marriage, funerals, and the religious practices of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, William Vaux offers at least one account of Brigham Young and the Mormons (1883 diary). Most volumes emphasize his participation in university life (Haverford College and the Drexel Institute), athletics (the American Alpine Club), and postbellum science (the Photographic Society of Philadelphia, the Quaker Asylum and Penitentiary), with occasional notes pertaining to presidential politics, such as the election and assassination of William McKinley.
 
Richard Vaux
 
Two volumes contained in the Richard Vaux papers warrant careful attention. A typed transcript of a 1781 diary (1/1-10/27) furnishes an account of a loyalist during the American Revolution. As detailed in George Vaux's short introduction to the diary, Vaux apprenticed with Samuel Sansom in Philadelphia beginning in 1768. (The original diary, which begins in March 1779 is unavailable.) A loyalist, he spent much of the war in London and returned to Philadelphia shortly after the revolution (c. 1784). Each entry includes paragraph-length account of personal affairs of and socializing with the English upper class, typically beginning with breakfast meetings and running until often quite late at night (usually Vaux notes that he returns home around 11 or midnight, though several entries are much later). Typical social events include breakfasts and dinners (and the individuals involved), pipe smoking, excursions around England, theater showings (e.g. Covent Garden Play House), daily visits to coffee shops (especially Lloyd's Coffee House), painting exhibitions (including the work of Benjamin West), and the Free Mason Lodge. As George Vaux notes in his introduction, Richard is a "man of the world." He also spends a fairly extraordinary amount of time and money on inns and taverns (including Ambrose Lloyd's, Queens Head Tavern, Bull Tavern, March's Tavern, and Falcon Inn). Equally descriptive are his meticulous accounts of expenses: coffee houses and coaches are the most frequent expenses, though Richard Vaux also notes spending on charity, tobacco, tea, newspapers, baths, books, brandy, and milk.
 
Beginning in September 1781, Richard Vaux embarks on a transatlantic voyage, during which he measures daily progress (distance traveled) and coordinates (latitudes). His time on board is marked by ubiquitous illness, particularly sea sickness, injuries, and fevers. The reader also gains a rich sense of the sailors' diets (including pickled tongues) and daily trials (e.g. pests, as Richard records "dismal nights with the bugs" on multiple occasions, including 10/8 and 10/16). Notably, the narrative ends when the ship is boarded by the Hendrik Privateer, a New England ship under the command of Thomas Bensom, which seizes their brig as a "prize to America" and ransacks their stores (10/26).
 
Samuel Sansom
 
Also included in the Richard Vaux papers is the European travel journal of Samuel Sansom (1759-1760), which provides some of the lengthiest, most conversational, and public-facing diary entries researchers will encounter anywhere in the APS collections. The Sansom diary opens with a note from his former apprentice, Richard Vaux, and other front matter suggests that the journal was transcribed at sea from loose pages so that the author could enable his friends to "partake with him in the entertainment he experiences (in the days of his youth)." The volume also features an excerpt from Elizabeth Drinker's journal with a silhouette of Sansom and a note that Sansom left London on 4/1/1760 and returned to Philadelphia on 5/4/1760.
 
Sansom's account begins at the outset of his transatlantic journey, and pays significant attention to travel delays
 
in fact, leaks require his ship to return to Philadelphia just nine days after departure. Upon arriving in London, Sansom travels widely and socializes continuously, particularly with the English upper class. He attends Quaker meetings, frequents coffee houses, and he is preoccupied with various curiosities, from wax figures (11/13/1759) to a dwarf and giant (2/22/1760). Sansom proves a studious observer of the mechanics of production (e.g. grist mills), English towns and cities (especially Birmingham), and Quaker sermons and religious practices. He regularly intersperses prosaic observations with grand musings (reference the 12/20/1759 and 2/1/1760 entries for examples) intended to instruct and delight the friends he imagines will later read his volume with rapt anticipation.
 
Mary Vaux
 
Finally, the Mary Walsh James Vaux maintained a diary in 1906 and for most of the period spanning 1921-1951. Those 40 volumes may interest researchers interested in women's history, Philadelphia regional history, Vaux family history, western expeditions, and the outbreak of WWII. Vaux's diaries include inspirational quotes, notes from religious meetings, lectures, and receptions, shopping lists, addresses, and notes on the weather. Her entries frequently reference the Pennsylvania Yearly Meeting (Society of Friends) as well as the League of Women Voters, Female Society for the Relief and Employ of the Poor, and the Salvation Army. Diaries sometimes include ephemera, such as dried leaves and photographs (1927).
 
Although Mary Vaux tends to record cursory notes, sometimes her entries provide insights into her emotional state. Vaux appears to have suffered from depression (reference, for example, 10/29/1927, 11/3/1927, 11/13/1939, and 5/4/1940) and often register significant shifts in mood (compare 9/24/1906 to 11/4/1906). A notebook also appears to include numerous personal letters Mary Vaux collected from her husband, George Vaux, spanning 1932-34. (Each entry begins, "George Vaux is here to speak to Mary"). World War II surfaces in her later diary entries. While Mary Vaux rarely discusses politics or war, her 1940 Pomernatz diary includes draft numbers in place of the 10/27-29 entries. The 12/7/1941 entry in her Excelsior diary and the 12/8/1941 entry in her Pomernatz diary note the outbreak of World War II.
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  Selected Quotations
  • Samuel Sansom: headed to Bath "that famous place of resort for curiosity and pleasure" (10/17/1759)

  • George Vaux: "And so with this entry is closed the year 1898 and a new book is begun. I feel that the year just passed has been full to an unusual extent of trials and temptations hard indeed to bear. O for more resignation, more light, more faith" (12/31/1898)

  • Mary Vaux: "Got my license!" (5/26/1947)
 
 Subjects:  Accounts. | American religious cultures | Architecture. | Athenaeum of Philadelphia. | Blizzards. | British Museum. | Colonial America | Cosmopolitanism. | Diaries. | Europe--Politics and government. | Expedition | Franklin Institute (Philadelphia, Pa.) | Franklin, Benjamin, 1706-1790. | Loyalist | McKinley, William, 1843-1901. | Medicine. | Mental health. | Meteorology. | Mormon Church. | Photographic Society of Philadelphia | Photography. | Piracy. | Religion. | Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919. | Science. | Slavery. | Society of Friends. | United States--Civilization--1783-1865. | United States--Civilization--1865-1918. | United States--Civilization--1918-1945. | United States--Civilization--1945- | United States--Politics and government. | United States--History--Revolution, 1775-1783. | Urban planning and environment | Weather. | Westminster Abbey. | Women--History. | World War I. | World War II. | World's Columbian Exposition (1893 : Chicago, Ill.) | Yellowstone National Park. | Young, Brigham, 1801-1877. 
 Collection:  Vaux Family Papers, 1701-1985  (Mss.Ms.Coll.73)  
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